Possible Sonic reboot?!

[Emerald Lance]

Here's some news. Some really old news, news that may or may not have been heard before, but news nonetheless. News that, quite frankly, has me more than just a little nervous.

Sega May Be Looking to Profit Off Fans Further

About a week before the bomb dropped at Sega Sammy about Sega’s poor financial shape, we learned from a source who spoke to TSSZ on condition of anonymity of possibly serious changes the company may have in store for its flagship franchise. Again, that’s “may”…not “will.”

The source alleged that both Sonic Team and Sega are looking to better monetize Sonic well beyond the merchandise arrangements already in place, as part of what was said to be a potentially “massive” and “total” reboot that is allegedly still in the exploratory phase. We’ve bolded that last part to remind you that nothing we’re saying here is set in stone, and that it may be a least a year or two before any of this may pan out. While we have been told Sega and Sonic Team are “committed” to the reboot, to what extent that stretches is still being pitched. While several ideas are being floated around, what we’re about to explain is the alleged current frontrunner.

We’re told the core tenets of speed, platforming, and surreal environments will remain–as will Sonic and Dr. Eggman and the rivalry they share, though both characters may undergo a makeover. But as part of this possible reboot, anything and everything else is under review, says the source. That includes, at its core, the main supporting Sonic cast, even Tails, our source says. And while the idea of surreal environments would remain, a whole new universe for Sonic to do battle and new characters for him to befriend may be concocted, in effect destroying most canon that precedes the relaunch and wiping the slate nearly clean, according to our source. All the meanwhile, new gameplay methods and gimmicks are allegedly being fleshed out for Sonic to try.

Specifically, our source alleged the concept of “zones” may be revamped. In this possible reboot, zones would be massively expanded and become their own worlds, sort of speak. Within the zones, there would be individual levels masked as missions for Sonic to complete. The source most closely compared it to Electronic Arts’s Burnout Paradise, which is open-world and lacks a concrete, linear level structure. All of this would be enclosed in a new engine. Our source compared its next-gen capability to the likes of Unreal Engine 4, currently in development for the next crop of consoles, and Frostbite 2, used with EA’s Battlefield 3.

If this sounds like Sonic intends to take a turn back toward the serious and photorealistic, not to worry–our source assured that will not be the case, and injecting photo-realism is of no concern in this potential reboot. To be sure, Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka has said as much in recent interviews.

But there’s a catch, and it lies in that monetizing part. The source tells TSSZ that Sega and Sonic Team may aggressively pursue a collection model as part of the reboot. The source claimed the company intends to target the young audience bent on physical collectibles by perhaps going so far as to require physical emblems and collectibles to unlock special features in future Sonic series. An example would be to purchase a Knuckles statue in order to gain the echidna as a playable character in-game. The strategy could also be used to unlock extra levels.

If that sounds far-fetched, it’s not. In fact, it’s already been executed successfully. Our sourced pointed to Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure as a major source of Sega’s inspiration for this model. Released last year, Skylanders featured more than 30 playable characters, but only came with three out of the box as physical figurines, as did an interactive peripheral. Remaining characters had to be purchased in stores. When a character’s toy connects to the peripheral, which in turn connects to the console, that character unlocks in-game. Skylanders performed pretty well in its multiplatform debut, well enough that a sequel under the same model is planned for release later this year. With Sega’s recent commitment to expand its Sonic merchandise and the partners who make them, the backbone may already be there to support this kind of a strategy.

What’s more, Sega and Sonic Team have already tried this method out–albeit on a much smaller scale–and you may not quite realize it. If you remember the secret statue room in Sonic Generations, it was always Sega’s intent to release codes for that room through various promotions and merchandise. That in fact happened on a very limited basis in some territories despite fans mining the game and releasing all the codes online. If our source’s information holds, this strategy would be an extension of that.

Other possible revenue models our source discussed was for these physical toys and collectibles to have an interactive component with a new cartoon series, or to offer classic characters in-game straight up as DLC. But ultimately, Sega is looking to attract a new generation of fans, the source said. That would certainly explain why classic Sonic was touted as a one-time deal for Sonic Generations, but this information also indicates that modern Sonic, as we know him, is at risk as well.

To again be clear–we’re told this is all very early and exploratory. We’ve labeled this story as rumor for that reason. We are, in some respects, just as skeptical of some of the above as you may be, but we do at least want to tell you what we’ve learned. It’s not unreasonable to expect little else related to this for a least a year to eighteen months. Of course, for any of this to pan out, Sega as a company still has to exist by 2014. Keep in mind we learned of it just a few days before the full scope of Sega’s financial troubles was known, and there certainly are a few components above that may become necessities for Sega to survive as a business. Anything more we learn will be passed along.

http://www.tssznews.com/2012/04/04/s...2014-explored/

[FuzzBallDog]

a story reboot with all the characters tossed except eggman and sonic sounds like a perfect idea. yes even tails. every character in the sonic idiot brigade has existed pointlessly for far too long. with tails being the only half exception to the rule. honestly the canon story is a nightmare. its idiotic, full of cheesy characters with nothing of value, and reused jokes left and right. however i would not mind tails returning if they change him from dorky science tween although i dont mind that so much as i mind the fact the characters have been the same for 20 years. so tails can be that as long as he ages past that. sonic can start as he is now as long as he ages. i think everyone should be on board a story reboot if there is ever a series in need of one its sonic.

that said the skylanders model sounds terrible.

so i half hope this is true lol

[thegutta]

Great news share Lance hopefully if they do a reboot I'm hoping they don't F**k it up n destroy the name of Sonic the we been playing since we were kids the we love n care about.

[Emerald Lance]

The more I think about it, the better a reboot starts sounding. Here's what I posted somewhere else describing my thoughts on the matter:

I have extremely mixed feelings about a reboot. It seems to be the direction everybody is going these days, whether it's a good idea or not. For instance, I can certainly understand why Konami might want to reboot Castlevania, but I have trouble imagining a good enough reason for Capcom to want to reboot Devil May Cry right now. (Speaking of Konami and reboots, since Snake is no longer around, a good Metal Gear reboot might not be a bad idea...)

Everybody's getting caught up in the Skylanders thing, but that's not what people should be taking away from all this. All the articles I've read have talked about complete and total reboots. Frame of reference, imagine Dragon Ball Z, but Goku never met Krillin or Bulma, never married Chi Chi, and never earned the Nimbus. Already, that makes for an entirely different story! (The DC Comics fans will get where I'm going with this.)

I keep hearing about the very real possibility for a total do-over, starting the series again with just Sonic and Eggman. No more Tails, no more Knuckles, no more Amy, no more Shadow, possibly even no more Chaos Emeralds. THAT'S the significance of this news, not the Skylanders reference. Even if we do get to see a few familiar faces, they'll more than likely have a different origin story.

The question is: is this a bad thing? While it will certainly suck to have to relearn the continuity, I'm drawn to this little tidbit:

I'm not sure that all of the Sonic games really have much of a continuity right now.

This is so true that it hurts. I think the reason Sonic was doing so poorly up until Unleashed is because of how seriously Sega took the series, or rather, how seriously they DIDN'T take it. Sega has been throwing Sonic all over the spectrum, desperately trying to emulate everything else that is successful (I really hope they don't go with the Skylanders business model, not because I don't like the idea, but because they'd be blatantly selling out like usual). And they've been very transparent about it, too. I mean, say what you will about whether you like the games or not, but the Sega All Stars Racing games (at least the first batch, I haven't bothered playing the latest one) are just Mario Kart games reskinned, just like how Shuffle was Mario Party (and don't try to sell me on the card mechanics or the battle spaces). I'm not saying Sonic Adventure was the last good Sonic game, but it was definitely the last one to be itself until Unleashed came along. Sega has been so frantic trying to figure out what will sell that they've completely neglected to do anything concrete for Sonic.

That's why Unleashed, Colors, and Generations were such breaths of fresh air: Unleashed was the first Sonic game to be itself, to not worry about being another game (and even then Sega started development by studying Super Mario Galaxy) since Sonic Adventure 2 all the way back in 2000; when Colors and Generations decided to run with the Unleashed model, it just felt right (I think Colors was a giant step in the right direction, and Generations was total fan service scarcely seen outside of Smash Bros).

So what does all this have to do with Freaky's quote earlier? Well, one of the (important) things that Sega has neglected to give Sonic a concrete base on is the story. One of the things that made Adventure so cool was that it was the first game to really flesh out a story (and the last one to do it really well, it seems). Same with SA2. Heroes didn't really have a deep story (it was really just attempted fan service with Metal Sonic), Shadow had a great story but fell short on the "grim and gritty" nonsense, Sonic 06 had a similar situation to Shadow but lost it on being too realistic (we've all heard the bestiality jokes by now). What Sonic really needs is a concrete story. And not just for a single game, but a full-on backstory. We've come to the point where nostalgia alone won't keep sales up, and developers need a way to bring in new fans.

Rebooting Sonic from the ground up is probably the best way for Sega to handle the series right now. Bring in new fans with a new and concrete story and original gameplay elements (while still staying fundamentally "Sonic" ), keep those new fans by keeping the story consistent and allowing the gameplay to evolve without suddenly changing it with every title, and keep us older fans with subtle references to the older Sonic continuity. If Sega can just keep their heads on straight, they may just be able to pull this off.

[CloudStrife7x]

sounds interesting but we will have to wait and see if they do it

[mavymcmavmav]

I never had a Sega but the Dreamcast was a favorite of mine. Hope they do this. Would be a good title for the Wii U